The Accuser
One woman has spent decades documenting crimes against humanity in Iraq. Now Saddam and his circle are facing justice
March 2005
In This Issue
William Langewiesche, "The Accuser"; Paul Starobin, "The Accidental Autocrat"; Ross Douthat, "The Truth About Harvard"; David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW'"; Robert J. Shiller, "American Casino"; Peter Beinart, "Backfire"; Christopher Hitchens, "I'll Be Damned"; Sandra Tsing Loh, "Marshal Plan"; poetry by John Updike; and much more.
Features
The Accidental Autocrat
Vladimir Putin is not a democrat. Nor is he a czar like Alexander III, a paranoid like Stalin, or a religious nationalist like Dostoyevsky. But he is a little of all these—which is just what Russians seem to want
The Truth About Harvard
It may be hard to get into Harvard, but it's easy to get out without learning much of enduring value at all. A recent graduate's report
Meeting
A drawing
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American Casino
The promise and perils of Bush's "ownership society"
What "W" Owes to "WW"
President Bush may not even know it, but he can trace his view of the world to Woodrow Wilson, who defined a diplomatic destiny for America that we can't escape
J-School for Jerks
How you, too, can learn to behave like Bill O'Reilly
Primary Sources
Hizbollah's new toy; America's "Pedestrian Danger Index"; the perils of dialing drunk
The New Opium War
[This article is unavailable online.]
Books
Clothes-Minded
The London Look: Fashion From Street to Catwalk, by Christopher Breward, Edwina Ehrman, and Caroline Evans; Harvard Rules, by Richard Bradley; The Glorious Cause, by Robert Middlekauff; The Meaning of Independence, by Edmund Morgan
I'll Be Damned
Graham Greene's most fervent loyalty was to betrayal
One Great Book Per Life
Writers who said it all to perfection in a single book and then most decently died
Marshal Plan
The age of parents as friends is over
Backfire
A leading observer of militant Islam argues that the movement will undermine itself—if only the United States will let it
Pursuits
Feeling Entitled?
Huey Long's aspiration—"Every man a king!"—is at last within our grasp
55 Years Ago in The Atlantic
"My Father: Leslie Stephen"
The Magician
The world's best pool player sees shots no one else can
Ex-Husband of Love Goddesses
Artie Shaw (1910-2004)
Who's Who
A selective index to this month's issue
Also in this issue
Calendar
Playing for all the marbles; the color of money; a slushier Iditarod; China's torch song
Poetry
Male Voices, From Below
A poem
